Human rights

Overview

Human rights are violated every time a girl is married off under age 18, every time a woman is denied access to quality maternal care and every time a person is subjected to abuse. Human rights also include sexual and reproductive rights – yet many people cannot freely decide the number, spacing or timing of their children. Some lack the information or means to make these choices, while others face coercion, discrimination or violence when they exercise these rights.

Protecting the rights – including sexual and reproductive health and rights – of all people is a precondition for individual well-being and sustainable development. UNFPA works to empower individuals and communities to claim their rights through various strategies, including awareness-raising, trainings, life-skills projects and working with national human rights institutions. UNFPA also works with governments to help them fulfil their human rights obligations under regional and international agreements.

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Human rights belong to everyone, everywhere

Human rights are essential for all people, and they must be protected, respected and fulfilled for everyone: for men and women, for people who are married and those who are not, and for people of all ages, regardless of status or identity.

In fact, sexual and reproductive health and rights are part of a continuum of human rights. In 2016, the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights cemented the right to sexual and reproductive health. It is not only an integral part of the right to health; it is fundamentally aligned to the enjoyment of many other human rights, including the rights to life, health and education, the rights to equality and non-discrimination, the right to privacy and freedom from torture, and individual autonomy.

These rights are interrelated and interdependent. For example, when an adolescent girl is denied access to sexual and reproductive health services, she is more likely to become pregnant early and to drop out of school, affecting her right to an education. She is also more likely to face death or injuries related to pregnancy and childbirth, affecting her rights to life and the highest attainable standard of health. Her choices and future potential will be curtailed, affecting her self-determination and right to an adequate standard of living.

A long road ahead

The last few decades have seen the enactment of laws and policies protecting women’s rights and sexual and reproductive health and rights in many countries. Despite this progress, there has been inconsistency in the enforcement of these laws and implementation of these policies. Many marginalized groups and vulnerable populations have seen limited progress.

Human rights at the heart of UNFPA's work

With other UN agencies and civil society organizations, UNFPA advocates for the development of international human rights standards and accountability frameworks. These help to track the implementation of recommendations on sexual and reproductive health and rights. UNFPA also works with regional and national human rights protection systems, including national human rights institutions.

By strengthening national accountability and human rights protection systems, UNFPA helps monitor the delivery and quality of sexual and reproductive health services. This aids efforts to remove barriers that prevent certain groups – such as women and girls, adolescents and persons with disabilities – from accessing these services. UNFPA also works with specific groups facing sexual and reproductive health violations to help them advance and protect their rights.

UNFPA also applies a human rights-based approach in all its programmes. This means promoting human rights and gender equality is a core focus of all UNFPA activities – from the training of midwives and the development of comprehensive sexuality education curricula to supporting governments’ capacity to protect and fulfil human rights.

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Resources on Human rights

Among other contraceptive methods, sterilization is an important option for individuals and couples to control their fertility. In this document, sterilization refers not just to interventions where the intention is to limit fertility but also to situations where loss of fertility is a secondary outcome.

Violence against women and girls is a pervasive violation of human rights that persists worldwide and cuts across all socio-economic groups. This new collaborative study aims to provide a deeper understanding of the magnitude, nature and context of violence experienced specifically by indigenous girls, adolescents and young women.